On April 7, 1880, Pauline Davis
Carter donated land on which to build a Methodist Episcopal Church, South
structure. The town had been named after her grandfather, Don Jose
Vidal. The first church was soon built, though it later burned down
and was rebuilt. The church was a Union church and was shared by
other Protestant denominations.
On January 30, 1930, the church
elected to relocate to the corner of North Spruce and Concordia Streets,
on property that was donated by Mr. T.J. Bingham. The move was necessary
because the new levee put much of the town in the Mississippi River.
Many other structures were also relocated.
Rev. Lael S. Jones became the
first full-time resident pastor in 1949.
The Baptists left the Union
church in 1944 and built their own church. About that time, the Methodists
constructed an education building. While Rev. Harold Hine served
as pastor (1955-60), the property at the corner of Florida and North Oak
Streets was purchased.
In 1958, the Presbyterians purchased
the old Union church property and rededicated it as a Presbyterian church
in 1971.
In the mid 1960s, a brick parsonage
was built on property that had been donated by Mr. and Mrs. W.F. Johnson.
Work began while Rev. Arby W. Coody was pastor and was completed while
Rev. William Odell Simmons was pastor. Bishop Aubrey Walton led the
consecration service in the spring of 1966.
In March of 1966, Rev. Dan Tohline
dressed as an early Circuit Rider and left from Vidalia on horseback to
ride to Baltimore, MD for the bicentennial celebration.
In the late 1960s, improvements
were made to the facilities and property next to the church was purchased.
In December 1971, the debt from the buildings built fourteen years earlier
was paid off. |
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